Industry insiders say China Mobile Communications Corp. is set to invite bids for the supply of TD-SCDMA cellphones in September worth as much as $784.5 million, according to a Xinhua.net report.

China Mobile will reportedly buy about two million TD-SCDMA cellphones, putting the average cellphone price between $260 and $390. Company sources have also been quoted saying that two million TD-SCDMA cellphone numbers will be issued from October through the first half of 2008, the report said.

A national TD-SCDMA network is expected to be completed by 2009, but about 20,000 TD-SCDMA cellphones are being tested. China Mobile had expressed dissatisfaction with the test results and required handset makers to redesign phones, according to the Xinhua.net report.

China Mobile is now constructing TD-SCDMA networks in cities including Beijing and Shanghai, while China Telecom and China Netcom are expanding their existing TD-SCDMA networks in Baoding and Qingdao, which are expected to be completed in October.

Earlier this month, the government approved the use of the European WCDMA standard and the U.S. CDMA 2000 standard, for 3G mobile phones in China to rival TD-SCDMA.

TD-CDMA is the 3G mobile standard developed by the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology together with Datang and Siemens.